Fascinating Crime Drama
Jane Innes, an aspiring out of work actress, is intrigued by Cooper a handsome classmate in her acting class when he approaches her, it’s not for the reason she hopes for. He’s a flim-flam man and easily talks Jane into a becoming a shill in an elaborate scheme to swindle diamonds from another couple. Things don’t go quite as planned, her intended victims aren’t as innocent as they first seemed and soon Jane is feeling some serious heat from both the law and her marks. The Shill is a captivating story! Jane reminds me of a cat, it’s like she has nine lives. She is tossed from one situation to another, dodging hitmen and a crazed ex-mark. Jane endures, battered and bruised but still standing. She is not the most sympathetic character ever written. After all, it doesn’t take much for Jane to be led into a life of crime. But, it’s not like she doesn’t pay for her transgressions in painful ways. Still, I didn’t feel the close connection to the character that, personally I like to feel in the stories I listen to. Kera O’Bryon is entertaining as she narrates this 8-hour audiobook. She does a respectable job with most of the characters and dialects required in this reading. The pacing and energy level of her delivery was perfect and the production quality was clear and distortion free. I wavered between a 3 ½ star and a 4-star rating and decided on 4-stars based on the quality of the writing and narrating and not my preference for a more engaging main character. This audiobook was gifted to me exchange for an unbiased review!